USA: FLORIDA, TEXAS EXECUTE CONVICTED KILLERS
June 12, 2013: Texas and Florida each executed a killer by injection. They were the 14th and 15th inmates executed in the United States this year.
Elroy Chester, 44, Black, was executed in Texas. He had been sentenced to death on September 26, 1998 after he confessed to killing 5 persons between August 1997 and February 1998. Victims were: John Henry Sepeda (78), Willie Ryman III (38), Albert Bolden (35), Etta Stallings (87) and Cheryl DeLeon (40).
Chester became the 7th inmate executed this year in Texas, the 499th since the state resumed carrying out capital punishment in 1982.
William Van Poyck, 58, White, was executed in Florida for the murder of a guard, Fred Griffis, in the summer of 1987 during a botched prison van ambush intended to free an imprisoned friend.
Van Poyck's case garnered international attention because he published 3 books and maintained a blog while on death row. He even wrote recently about his pending execution.
William Van Poyck and Frank Valdes ambushed a prison van outside a West Palm Beach doctor's office in a failed attempt to free James O'Brien - with whom they'd served time. Griffis was fatally shot after he threw the van's keys into the bushes to foil the escape.
Van Poyck and Valdes were captured following a car chase. In 1999, Valdes was stomped to death in prison. 7 guards were charged with his death, but none were convicted.
Van Poyck becomes the 3rd inmate to be put to death this year in Florida, the 77th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1979. (Sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin, 12/06/2013)
|